Something to Believe In
by rh-fntc
Summary: We stumble into our lives, without a hand to hold. Any wonder we need to find, a certain something...Sequel to 'No Exit'


Disclaimer: I own nothing.

AN: I finally had the time to post this story. Sequel to No Exit. I know some readers have been waiting for this one for quite some time now but RL issues made it impossible for me to write anything, let alone write a new story. But in celebration of winter break, I present to you, Something to Believe In.

**Something to Believe In**

Prologue

_**I'll Cover You**_

"…Goodbye, Chloe."

Tears filled her eyes; her hands shook as she tried to press the right key. She needed to hear it again. "No! Damn you!" She yelled in frustration as she pressed the wrong button.

Chloe Sullivan felt an overwhelming wave of misery. He promised her. And now…he broke his word. She needed…she had to see him. Them.

"Tower!" An authoritative voice broke through the fog that surrounded her mind

She looked at her phone blankly. The voice sounded vaguely familiar. She had pressed a key but it wasn't the right one, yet she still ended up hearing a man's voice.

"Watchtower! Are you okay?" There was a hint of desperation in the tone.

Taking a deep breath, she held the cell to her ear. "Hello?"

"Sidekick, you okay there?" Oliver Queen's concern could be heard over the phone lines.

Her shoulders shook with barely suppressed agony, her lips trembled in defeat. "Yeah." She answered so quietly, her voice cracking in despair.

Silence reigned for a beat before Oliver returned to his businesslike tone. "Tower, you got to get out of there. Impulse is on his way. Your security has been compromised." The urgency of his tone finally grabbed her attention.

"But-"

"Once he get's there he'll take you to a secure location and I'll get to the bottom of this." He uttered reassuringly.

"I-"

"I'm trying to locate Boyscout, no success. I'll debrief him later about the situation." Oliver continued, despite her attempt to speak. "I…I need you safe, Tower."

Chloe swallowed the huge lump in her throat and nodded. "Okay." She hung up the phone and before she knew it Bart was in front of her.

"Chloelicious, ready to go?" Bart smirked at her as he asked the question. When his eyes reached hers though, she knew that nothing was peachy keen, despite his overly bright demeanor.

She knew what Oliver's orders were. He was serious about keeping her safe. She was an asset to the league, there was no way he would let her land in the hands of the DDS, if it was the agency that was after her and Lex Luthor. But…she was needed elsewhere. If only he told her, if only he kept his end of the bargain. Her resolve strengthened as each second ticked by. "Take me to Metropolis." She said firmly.

"Chlo-"

She shook her head at his obvious refusal. "Bart, take me to the watchtower."

"I'm supposed to take you away from here. Arrow's got the ball rolling on the DDS front, he's not gonna give you up to anyone." Bart tried to place a comforting hand on her arm.

Her natural instinct was to shrug him off. She did not need to be comforted. She needed to be there, where they were, exactly where she thought she would be once everything reached critical mass. But he lied to her. They had a bargain…not that she had any intention of keeping her side of the deal. "If you won't take me, I'll get there on my own." She uttered harshly. It would take her hours but she just had to find them.

Bart looked dead serious. "Now that's just not happening, Chloe."

"Then take me there." She demanded her tears finally got the better of her.

"Chloe-"

"I…I need to be somewhere else. There's someone, people I care about…I need to find my friends." She brushed away her tears impatiently.

"Who-"

"Bart." She looked at him pleadingly. "I need to be there."

He eyed her for a full minute before he nodded and swept her off her feet.

They were gone by the time a group of armed men entered the Talon.

*****

The motel was even worse than any place that they'd stayed in. No one was complaining though. They had more pressing matters to occupy them.

Bobby Singer was staring at Sam. Sam Winchester was now truly alone. Nothing he said or did would make the younger man feel any better. It broke his heart, when he stumbled into the room and found Dean nearly torn into pieces, Sam holding onto him still hoping that he could save his brother.

To no avail. Dean was dead.

He somehow managed to guide Sam out of the house that the demon Lilith used as her playground. The demons all fled once they realized that their great leader was not so great when it came to a confrontation with Sam.

Sam. He painstakingly cleaned his brother up the moment they shut the door to the motel room. Bobby had the front row view of the mourning of Sam.

It had been five hours since Dean died. Yet, Sam hadn't shown any signs of moving. Bobby had already watched this particular scene unfold before, only Dean was in Sam's position. He had no intention of leaving this boy, though. Not after what happened the last time.

A knock on the door woke him from his stupor. Sam remained unmoved. He, on the other hand, reached for his gun and looked through the peephole. He was not letting his guard down. Sam may be out of it but no one could really tell if the demons were out of the picture yet.

Sully.

Chloe Sullivan was behind the door. The usually vibrant blonde was looking worse for wear. He only met her once and liked her on the spot, after he dispensed with the formalities (i.e. making her drink the holy watered down coke and whispering Cristo). He knew how fond the boys were of the budding reporter. Sam and Dean seemed to have developed a unique relationship with her, although Dean would have denied it.

Bobby opened the door. Chloe finally looked up from the fascinating staring contest she had with her shoes. "Cristo." He whispered before opening the door wider when her eyes remained hazel.

Chloe stepped over the salt that lined the door and into the motel room. "Bobby." She looked at him tearfully.

"Sully." He nodded jerkily.

She looked like she was barely holding herself together. She was completely unlike the person he knew. He was not prone to any form of physical contact, but he knew Chloe. Despite the short time that they had spent together, he respected her and they had form an unusual bond, not unlike her relationship with the boys. So he did the only thing he could, to make her feel better, to make himself feel less shitty. He hugged her.

*****

Chloe finally reached the point of no return. When Bobby Singer, who typically has an aversion to any form of physical contact, unless it was with the boys and only if it involved manly hugs and clap on the backs, enveloped her in his arms; she broke into tears.

She had no idea how low they stayed that way. But when she finally pulled back, she felt less…alone in the misery of hearing about Dean's fate. She flushed at the fact that Bobby's shirt was damp because of her tears.

"Bobby-"

He simply waved off her attempt to apologize and grabbed her hand.

She was completely unprepared to see Dean's body, atop the bed. He looked like he was just sleeping. Her tears welled up at the thought that he wouldn't be opening his eyes. She wouldn't be seeing his hazel eyes. She bit her lip to stop the sob that threatened to spill over.

"What are you doing here?" A gravelly voice shot the question accusingly.

Her attention shifted from Dean to Sam, Sam who looked completely unlike himself, Sam who was looking at her with such contempt. This was not the Sam she knew. And yet she couldn't really blame him. His brother was dead. Dean was dead. She was too late. She was supposed to save him.

"Sam-"

"Leave! I don't want you here. Go!" Sam barked out. He did not seem to want to hear whatever she wanted to say.

"I…I can't." She uttered helplessly.

"I thought he meant something to you." Sam sneered at her. "You, with your stupid abilities! You could have saved him. You should have saved him!" Sam crossed the distance between them and said the words, barely controlling his anger.

"Don't you think I wanted to?!" Chloe knew that Sam was just lashing out, but he should know her better. She wiped at her tears furiously. "I told him. I told him to tell me when. He promised me!" Chloe buried her face in her hands.

"Sam-" Bobby tried to interject.

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Sam spoke over Bobby's voice.

Chloe couldn't speak. Her grief was getting the better of her. Dean was dead and Sam blamed her. The logical side of her knew that Sam, her friend Sam, was not really blaming her for this ordeal. She should have known that Dean did not tell Sam about their deal.

"Just leave." He murmured quietly, seemingly losing the fight in him. "There's nothing you can do here." He turned away from her and continued his vigil.

She watched Sam stare at his brother. She felt angry, livid that he just summarily dismissed her. "I'm not going anywhere Sam." She stated with such determination. "Whether you like it or not, I'm staying here."

"No, you're not." Sam uttered in the same tone.

"Yes, I am. I deserve to be here, you know it too." Chloe replied. They had been through a lot together. And despite Sam's anger, he knew that she was in this with him, them.

He didn't bother to reply and she took that as his consent.

Bobby sighed loudly, looking at the two despondent figures. The despair was palpable in the air and he felt like he was suffocating. Once he was sure that there would be no more shouting match between the two he headed for the door, there was only so much sorrow he could take. He had to make sure that the two would not do anything stupid, like contact another crossroad's demon. So he remained outside, keeping vigil for the two people inside the motel room.

"We had a deal." Chloe began. She reached for Dean's hand tentatively.

Sam looked at her at her declaration. He thought that she was talking to him but her gaze was resting on Dean.

"You were supposed to tell me." She felt her tears spill from her eyes onto her cheeks but she refused to wipe them away. "You promised. And I promised."

He watched her with interest as she cried. Perhaps, there were some things that Dean never bothered to tell him about Chloe.

"I-I should have known that you weren't going to keep your end…because I had no intention of keeping mine." She clutched Dean's hand in hers and wished with all her might that her powers bring him back to life.

Nothing happened. She sobbed at the futility of everything. Why was she able to bring Lois back to life? How come Jimmy's hand was healed? Why did Lex survive? Why couldn't Dean be the one who benefited from her abnormality? Out of everyone she healed, this man…he deserved to live the most. She told Clark that her gift had to mean something. It meant that she could save him, her best friend, because Clark was meant to do great things. But Dean, he lived every day of his life in the service of others and he never asked to be rewarded for it. He saw it as his job. If anyone deserved to live, it was Dean. And she was going to help him, if only he kept his word.

Chloe laid her forehead against Dean's hand as she shed her tears.

Sam felt his throat constrict at the sight. Her gut-wrenching sobs were making him feel worse. He should have known that she would have saved Dean if she could. But fate was not on their side. It seemed like nothing was ever on their side, except for Chloe, she had been consistently there for them, despite the distance, despite Dean's attempts to keep her away from them.

She felt like she was never going to run out of tears. Her heart felt so heavy and she had no idea how she was going to get past this. She took Dean's hand and pressed it against her heart, knowing that it was pointless, no how much tears she shed, nothing was going to bring Dean back.

Dean's hand was damp from her tears. And he still remained dead. Sam knew how her ability worked, she told him during one of their many conversations. He could not deny the hope inside him while he watched her cry.

He half-hoped that there was no time limit to her power to bring someone back from the dead. But Dean's hand was damp with her tears. Nothing happened. His despair filled to the brim as he watched Chloe raised his brother's hand and placed it near her heart. He knew then that Dean was never coming back. Not unless he did something about it.

Chloe's hold on Dean was tight. She raised her gaze towards Sam and she saw something happen. Sam looked less sorrowful and more determined. Dean told her to stop Sam from doing anything stupid if he failed to break his contract with the demon. But she was completely unable to focus on anything but the fact that Dean was dead.

A lone tear made its way from her eyes, down to her cheek and fell on Dean's hand, which Chloe was still clutching against her chest.

A bright light filled the room.

*****

AN2: Okay, I know that in No Exit I asked everyone to tell me which man they prefer for Chloe. And I knew who I wanted her to be with. Suffice to say that it is directly contradictory to the popular opinion. Since I do value the opinion of my dear readers, I am willing to consider the Chlark angle (so you guys basically know that I am shipping Chlean here) but you have to tell me why Clark deserves to end up with Chloe (I can't get over the mind wipe so I really need convincing here). Go to town, cite as much evidence as you think is necessary to steer me towards the Chlark direction. Or if you guys are Chlean in the first place, well it would help if you'd remind me (also having trouble with the Anna debacle). And if anyone else wants someone else for our favorite blonde reporter, voice those opinions! The new seasons' essentially wiped the slate clean (chlean?) but I do need convincing. If your arguments have merit, it'll make the process of writing for the ship easier for me. Thanks for reading!


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